why I gave Starbucks GiftCards to LiveBIG Attendees

Everyone that has been around me for very long, learns one of the things I love to do.  I love to engage with the people I meet, learn about them, ask them questions and I absolutely love to surprise them in small ways with a note, a gift card, a package, a word of encouragement, a hug.

The last day of LiveBIG as I was getting ready I knew I wanted to do this for 10 People that had impacted my 3 Day LiveBIG Event experience.  10 People I had engaged with through the exercises.  10 People I had had conversations with.  When I went through the drive through at Starbucks to get my Venti Vanilla Chai Tea Latte, I got 10 $5.00 Gift Cards.  I couldn't find something open that early to get note cards and for once, I didn't have any with me in my laptop bag (this is unlike me, but I had packed differently this trip with just my suitcase of clothes, my laptop, my notebook for journaling at the LiveBIG Conference, a book and knitting for the plane ride).  I figured I would go at lunch and get notecards and write a little message to each of them.

But that didn't happen.  Unlike the previous two days, I went to lunch with several gals.  There was no time to get notecards.

As the day wore on, different ones were heading out and not staying until the very end.  I knew I had to change my plan.

I took one of my pieces of notebook paper and folded it, made deep creases to tear it into sizes to fit inside the gift card envelope and wrote:

Thank You for being part of my 3 Day LiveBIG experience!!!  I appreciate your part in my life!  Thank You.  

If I had had more time, I would have written this on a note card.  I would have shared one highlight from my encounter with them.  I would have written a nugget of "The Greatness I See In You" for them to take with them and for them to remember what I saw in them.  

I didn't get to do this as I wanted to, but I made the most of it and did it the way I could in the midst of the lack of planning.

I then put my email address and phone number on the back and said stay in touch! I then went through the last 3 days in my mind and made a list of 10 People who I wanted to give this to and at the next break, I passed them out.  I got all of them handed out except one.

I told each of them to read it later.

When I was relating this to one of my friends, she said, I would never think of doing something like that.  Where do you find the time?  I already was going through the Starbucks Drive Through.  It didn't take but maybe 5 minutes to add to something I was already doing.  Beyond that, I don't know how to answer this question.  I think of more things than I truly ever implement.

Another friend said, I can't believe you would do something like that to people you just met.  My thought is, why not?  They spent time getting to know me.  They did the exercises with me that I am sure weren't easy to do at times.  They learned some of My Story.  They encouraged me.  They asked me hard questions.  They impacted my LiveBIG Event.  Without them it wouldn't have been the same.  I had deep gratitude for their impact in my life.  Why wouldn't I do this for these people?

Another friend said, You are always so thoughtful.  I can't believe the number of ways you think to do things.  What makes you be so thoughtful?  The only thing I can say is that my goal is to encourage, support and inspire.  I have been that way from the start of my life.  It was squelched as a child, controlled and many times denied.  I don't let anything stop me now.  My goal is to treat you the way I want to be treated.  I want you to feel like you are special and that you matter and if a note and gift card does that, then I will do it.

May I encourage you today to take the time to share with someone who matters the world to you?  Even if you don't have $5.00 to buy a Starbucks Gift Card, you can text, call, email, Facebook, write a letter (that will cost you $0.48 plus the stationary), or just pray for them.  Believe me when I say your relationships will be strengthened and you will feel more connected to them.

LiveBIG my friends!

Quotes

Sometimes He allows a storm so that you can experience walking on water.
 ~ Chrystal Evans Hurst

Quotes

Gizmo

My friends dog, Gizmo, is my companion for the next week (helping out one of my girlfriends)...isn't he cute?It always amazes me how unique their personalities are.

I Am Poem

I Am
by Misty W Gilbert

I am a Courageous, Generous, and Loving woman.
I am not afraid of telling My Story.
I am aware that not everyone will understand.
I am convinced that I will tell it anyways.

I am aware that it will cause pain.
I know that the pain will bring growth.
I know that growth will have challenges.
I am determined to move through the challenges.

I am the author of My Story.
I know that My Story matters.
I know that its what has made me strong.
I am destined to do great things.

I am writing My Story and will publish My Story as a book.

fears I faced with attending LiveBIG

I shared with you my journey and my experience at LiveBIG for Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3.  I shared with you how I opened up and shared part of my journey each day and how I faced my fears in doing so.  I shared why.

I am going to share some more of what I went through to attend this conference so you can understand me, to share what I am working through in my internal belief system and how I am using the tools I am learning in life, both from this conference and other resources, to grow and develop me while I face my fears...not just now as I reflect on my life but what I did while I was in Salt Lake City in the midst of learning some tools first hand.

This post won't be easy for me to write because it makes me feel vulnerable.  Very vulnerable. But...I am determined to move past my fears and face them.  Whether you understand or not.  Whether you mock me or not for writing and sharing more than you think I should.  I am.

When I did my screening call with Gerald Rogers, my LiveBIG Coach, on January 6th, at the end of the call, he said he was going to send me a friend request on Facebook. To you, that might be an everyday thing.  For me, I froze.  My immediate thought was "What does he want?  Why would he do that?".  Gerald posts most of his content in a public format which means you do not have to be his friend to see his posts because of how he has his Facebook settings.  (For those of you that don't know this, Facebook only allows you to have 5000 friends.  If you want more friends than that, you have to have a FAN page, but then its no longer a personal page and people can like or not like your page on their own will, it doesn't require your acceptance or approval.  A personal page requires that you accept their friendship to be "a friend".  I have a personal page and have 3 business pages.  One for my Author Page, one for my Business that I have had 10 years this upcoming June, and one for my LLC, the company I am creating into something more than what I have now. If your posts are not public, people who are not your friends cannot see your posts, unless it is a FAN Page.  A little definition so you can understand the importance of this in how it relates to my blog post.)  I didn't feel the need to be his friend.  In fact, I wasn't sure I wanted to be his friend because of how popular he has become this last year, I can hear someone saying "You are friends with Gerald Rogers?  How do you rate?".  I don't rate.  I am just me.  A chic living her life on a courageous journey, desiring to improve some things that need to go.  I am nobody special.  So all that to say, I didn't feel the need to connect with him.  And, I just didn't like the feeling it gave me when he said that.  Yes, I was going to be doing Coaching with him, which in and of itself take vulnerability to let someone into your world, and though I am not afraid of what my Facebook profile shows or what I post, you all know that, this raised a new question, did I want to be Facebook friends with my coach?  I was left with the feeling of being on guard, fear of and wondering over his true intentions. It made me want to run.  It made me build a wall.  It even made me contemplate backing out of attending the conference.  

I know you are probably thinking how lame.  Really because some guy sent you a friend request on Facebook?  That's okay.  For you, that might not be a trigger point.  For you, it might be an easy thing to move through.  Not for me.  I had to talk myself through my thoughts and feelings and face my fears:

My inner dialogue:  It doesn't matter why Gerald sent you a friend request.  He has a 5000 friends and he wanted to connect with you, just as he told you so.  If he means more than that, you can deal with that when it happens just as you have any other guy that has approached you and had an ulterior motive.  Don't assume just because he sent you a friend request that it automatically means something by it anymore than you would want any other guy to assume you meant something you didn't mean by sending them a friend request.  And even if he does, let him have his reasons, if that's the meaning it has for him, that is his option.  It doesn't matter, you have your own reasons for being you.  You can still be you.  Don't let someone stop you from being you.

Awwwhhhhh.  True. Very true.

I got teased about going to the single Mormon Boys Conference.  Though I knew the teasing was in jest, and this person is someone I am very, very, very close to (and this friend will probably cringe that I am writing this on my blog...and cringe even further when they realize I had difficulty with the comment because I promise you, this was not their heart), even knowing they know me well and that they understand me more than you probably do, I questioned the teasing.  What were they really trying to say?  Don't they know I am happy being single?  Don't they know I am not looking for a man and the last thing on earth I am going to do is chase one down?  Darn why do I care what other people think?  Why can't I just go to this conference to learn more, grow me, develop my business and if someone thinks it for a different reason, let them???  I know my heart, the truth, my purpose, and more than that, I know that God has a plan for my life and that he planted this in my path now...three months after professional counseling, the perfect time in God's plan for me to learn more tools to work on my belief system.  Regardless what someone else is thinking, I can't change them.  Nor should I worry about what someone else thinks.  I know this.  People will think what they think, regardless of what I think.  Let God handle the naysayers.  The questioners.  The negative thinkers.  The people who don't understand what I deal with.  Let God do the work in me that needs to happen.  I got some determination to change me and am going to make it happen!

Awwwhhhhh.  True.  Very true.

Then I messaged Gerald to get a copy of my receipt for the cost I had paid for the event.  He said he would send it to me and remind him next week if I didn't get it.  I didn't get it.  I waited a week and reached out and messaged him again.  I waited 3 more days and then sent another message.  This time I said I hated to ask again and make him hate me before he even met me.  {If you have followed what I learned at this LiveBIG Conference you will see that this is a self sabotaging trait that I didn't know I was doing...why should he hate me?  He asked me to remind him. If it took two reminders, what's wrong with that?  Why would someone hate someone who was trying to be helpful?  Who said he would hate me?  See, its a meaning I put on it, but not a meaning that is true.}  He finally sent it.  I went to the conference wondering what he would say about this Persistent Texas Girl that insisted on getting a receipt, with a feeling deep down that I wasn't good enough because I had to "bother him" for a dumb stupid receipt.  {See how its totally ingrained in my thinking?}

The first day of the conference I was utterly exhausted.  Up 21 hours.  3 hours sleep.  Feeling very run down and emotionally drained.  Feelings I have faced before with dealing with my adrenal fatigue symptoms, but had hoped not to be facing at the start of this event, had me frustrated.  I moved past them and forced myself to get in the game and follow through with the event even though some of my Facebook friends suggested I try to sleep in or take time for me.  I didn't.  When I ended up being the first person to open up and share, all this was in my mind and heart as I tried to work through the questions.  It all contributed to my feelings of not being good enough.  It all contributed to the fear I had in holding back.  It was in some ways easy to answer the questions Gerald asked me because I came to the conference with those feelings very much fighting for space in my head.  Very much threaded around my heart.  Very much apart of the story of who I am.  Maybe this is one of the reasons God had me physically drained and emotionally hurting?  So I would see my desperate need to reprogram my belief system?  So I would have first hand experiences in the moment to work with and make me face my junk?

At the end of the day, several people were getting their pictures taken with Tony & Gerald, the two main Coaches, though Marci & Bri were part of the team too.  I snapped pictures of some of my new friends for them.  In my heart, I wished I could be like them and do that, but I flat out couldn't do it.  I hung back.  I resisted what everyone was doing.  Why?  Because I had fear. I had fear of what people would think if I had my picture done with them.  I had fear of what people would say.  I had fear of me.

I gave into the fear. I didn't get my picture taken.  I listened to the negative talk that I am not a celebrity.  I don't deserve my picture taken with the LiveBIG Coaches.

But my challenges were not over.  

Before I left, Gerald gave me a high five and pulled me into a hug.  This was hard.  Not because I don't like to give hugs or because of the fact that he wanted to give me one.  Not because I don't like to be hugged but because of the voice in my head.  The voice that says you are not worthy of being loved.  You are not good enough.  The voice that was sending me negative vibes.  The voice that questions everyone's motives because of things I have experienced in the past.  The voice that has created my negative belief system.  Sure I can be courageous and shove my feelings aside, smile bigger to not let you see what's going on inside...I have learned to do this well. I have learned to mask my own feelings and fears because I have been told they don't matter, be courageous, pain is inevitable, and hide the inner feelings and dialogue going on.  Nobody cares anyways.  And when they say they do care, they walk away because they can't handle what you expose to them.  But my heart knows the truth and my mind knows why.  I held back, sure I hugged him, but not as I would have if I had not listened to fear, if I had felt comfortable to be me, if he was one of my married guy friends that wouldn't be worried about the fact that I was single.  Why?  Out of fear of being able to be me.  Out of fear that he might take it to mean something I didn't mean.  Out of fear that someone would think something that wasn't true.  Out of fear of being attacked.  Fear of my fears being known.  I don't want you to see my fear.  Yet. I held back because of fear.

When I woke up the second day with a prayer in my heart for the day, I put it on Facebook and texted it to my Buddy, Brandee.  I considered tagging Gerald in the post and then decided I shouldn't.  Then I asked myself why I was going to let fear again hold me back?  I opted to face my fear and so I sent it to Gerald via text.  I decided I didn't care what he thought.  I didn't have Tony's number or I would have sent it to him too.  I then went back and tagged him in the post on Facebook.  I was going to move past my fear.  Period.  Let him think what he wanted to think.

Dang guys.  You aren't gonna run my life as you have for 37 years.  Done with that.  So done.

When I got to the hotel where the conference was being held, I was talking to my Buddy about how she wasn't feeling well and how she didn't sleep good.  While we were talking Gerald walked up.  The negative thoughts immediately started creeping in and took over the conversation in my head.  The..."I wonder what he is thinking about my prayer?"  ...the "see I told you so" stuff..."who do you think you are?"..."what are you trying to prove?"..."you think you are good enough, really do you now?"...etc.  He told me to give him a hug.  I felt the air get sucked out of me.  I talked back to myself and fought the inner dialogue.  Face it Misty. I had been kneeling and talking to Brandee, I got up and hugged him, but this time, I squeezed him tight.  Though he didn't say thanks for the text, he communicated that in his smile.  I consciously fought off my negative thoughts, calmed the noise inside and gave myself a pep talk about being me, the courageous, generous, loving woman I am, and interacting as I would with anyone who was one of my friends in my inner circle and launched into the conversation by asking him how he slept and how we were looking forward to day two, thankful for all he had brought to us so far, engaging him in the conversation we already had going on about how Brandee and I had slept and what we had gotten out of the conference this far...conversation just as I would have had with anyone I knew and someone who was one of my close friends or anyone else who had been apart of our conversation before he arrived.  

I was going to conquer my fear.  If it killed me.  I was going to push past this junk I face all the time.

Throughout this second day, when I did "The Greatness I see in You..." exercise, there were times that I was paired up with some of the guys at the event.  If this had been me when I was 20, moving out from California to Texas, it would have been a hard process no matter who it was.  Girl or Guy.  Young or Old.  However, as I have grown and developed my communication skills and relationships, I have been able to move past my shyness and reserved demeanor and move forward embracing my new life.  To being me.  Through this, I have even developed some really cool guy friends, married and single.  However, it still is always a bit easier for me to engage with guys that I know are married though being married doesn't mean it is always comfortable for me (and if you were to look at the details of past experiences that have created my baggage, these guys were not single guys so their is no truth in this lie that has become a way of thinking...it just a pretense of being more comfortable).  The guys that are single seem to automatically make me feel boxed in a corner and it causes me to clam up, makes it harder for me to feel I can be me with them, and I automatically feel I am on display.  I am sure the relationships that I have had and the way those guys have interacted with me have only fed this feeling (insisting on the fact that I have a relationship with them, telling me I was "their girl" before they knew me, and more), however even though I have tried to figure out why I am like this, move past this barrier, and at times I am able to do so, other times I feel inadequate and it holds me back and I end up being reserved.  In this exercise where you were interacting one on one, you didn't have time to worry about whether they were single or married.  The exercise didn't matter if they were or weren't and there were lots of guys there with their wives and so it was easy to assume they were.  We also were all there for the same purpose and we all were to do the same process.  This created a comrade that made the playing field equal.  The greatness I saw in them didn't matter whether they were single or married.  I would take their hands and look into their eyes, connect and share, being me.  The experience was different with each of them, and the ones that had fear in their heart, this came out through their eyes, married or not.  

One of the interesting lessons and nuggets I took away with me from doing this process is that your fear cannot be hid, no matter how much you try to hide, it will be uncovered by someone.  To move past the fear, you have to be willing to be open.  The more open you are willing to be, the more connected you feel.  When you truly look into someones eyes to find the greatness that is there, you will see more than you ever imagined because each life is unique and each life has meaning.

After our lunch break, when we came back into the room, all the LiveBIG team were there to greet us and give us hugs.  Having been even more vulnerable that morning with sharing and interacting with Tony, I desperately needed the hugs, but did I allow myself to accept them from each of the team?  No.  I kept walking.  Later in reflecting on my actions, I realized that once again, this was out of fear and in some ways self sabotaging myself.  My inner dialogue was telling myself that I didn't deserve to be loved, hugged or accepted by them.  They weren't in my league and so I should just keep moving and take my seat instead. I didn't deserve their friendship, I was just a student.  Looking on you might have said I was just in a hurry to get a seat on the second row where I had sat the entire time.  It might have looked like I was confident and didn't need a hug.  It might have looked like I was at peace with the situation when in my heart, the truth is I was hiding.  The truth was I was afraid to let myself be hugged.  Why?  Because what you would say to me would be hard for me to accept as truth.  And because in my core, I don't feel I am worthy of your love.

As you interacted with various individuals they would always ask if I was married and I would hold up my left hand, explain the ring I wear is fake and I was single.  I have written blog posts about this before.  The subject has always provided some sort of comic relief to the question, I have accepted why I wear it and that it is a way to make me feel more comfortable.  But now I had to explain, to strangers who wanted to know more. Genuinely wanted to know.  Who wanted to know if I wanted to be married.  Who wanted to know truly why I wasn't married.  In some ways, I think I have never answered this question.  In some ways, I am not sure I know how to answer this question.  In reflecting on this too, I now ask myself, is my ring truly a comfort or just something that has become familiar to me?  By wearing it does it eliminate the feelings I feel inside me when a guy is looking me over?  {NO.}  By wearing it have I only built more of a wall around my heart or less?  For now, I still wear it, but it was interesting how this was one of the pieces of my junk that came up.  

All these little things were lessons to me.  Live lessons coming up during LiveBIG.  Lessons to help me look at my reactions.  Look at the triggers and how I was reacting.  Face the definitions and meaning I had given something to create the triggers.  Look at the definitions and meaning to understand the experiences that had led me to define life the way I have.

Fear because of messages my Mom put on me about men.  About relationships.  About hugs.  About what it means to be a forward girl.  About being too bold.  About being a slut.  About never being wanted because of...(a long list of reasons she had why a man would never want me...but would want my sister).  About being beautiful but not being beautiful because I was used.  About flirting.  About how to position or not position your body when you gave a man a hug.  About how long to allow someone's body to touch your body, even in passing or a high five.  About how long to hold a man's gaze.  All these unwritten rules my Mom had and instilled in me and definitions she had placed on relationships.  They created fears.  Fears that have inhibited me from moving past these blocks in my mind and heart.  Fears of not feeling good enough no matter what I did.  Fears that somehow I would make a mistake.  

Fear about getting close to men because of the relationship I never had with my Dad.  Dad never told us I love you, never told us we were pretty, never told us we were beautiful, never told us we were never wanted, in fact we were told we were not wanted and the only reason he had kids and been a Father was because Mom wanted them.  We didn't feel loved or wanted.  That alone made me feel men truly don't love you or want you.  That alone made me feel every man had a cold heart.  That alone made me feel I couldn't accept a friendship with a man.  That the only thing men every want was sex if they did want you.  The meaning to these fears became defined for me as I worked through my junk.

But are these things true?  Or are they lies that have formed my belief system?  It became clear to me, really clear to me how much they are a negative belief system stuck in the core of my heart.  When will I see them for the truth and work to rewrite my beliefs? 

Later or now???

I got to have many one on one conversations with various guys at the conference.  Guys that have made an impact on my world.  These guys include: Jay, Tony, Kent, Nathanial, Rob, Jeremy, Chad, Tanner, Christion, and Bret.  Each of these guys are apart of my courageous journey to learning to love me.  To learning to rewrite my story.  To learning to face my fears.  To learning to have guy friends and not worry about if they are single or married or what their motive is. Guys that were kind, loving and patient as I worked through my junk.  Guys that are interested in being friends.  Guys that want to see you succeed.  Guys that have a heart.  These guys are my friends.  These guys are helping me define new concepts of guy girl relationships and to accept me.  To love me.

But it wasn't just the guys...it was girls I got to connect to too!  

If I had not faced my fears and shared as I did, would I have met Jana and connected with her on the level I did, both of us having like Mom's?  Would she have shared with her husband who then felt drawn to talk to me? I pretty much can assure you the answer is NO.  Would Deonne have opened up and shared that we experienced a life changing situation at the same age if I had not opened up first?  NO.  There would have been no reason to.  If I had not, would I have gotten all I got out of the conference?  Would I have come away feeling like I played a Level 10?  Would I have regretted not playing a Level 10?

I realized through the things I faced at this event, the situations that were uncovered through the exercises the LiveBIG Team did with us, the things they taught us, the information they shared that I have a butt load of work yet ahead of me to learn to love me.  But I am determined to work with my accountability buddies and do the hard work, deep into the core belief system of Misty.  

Through the 3 days I was apart of this group, Gerald reminded me to accept the love that was being shown to me.  The first time he said that, I truly was not comprehending that I didn't love me.  I even dismissed it like, I love me, its not like I hate me...Geez, what a crazy thought.  As I worked through trying to accept the love being shown to me, I realized that I truly wasn't sure that I knew how to love me, beyond the surface.  Then part of me felt I did as I worked through listening and accepting what was told to me. But it was only part.  I hadn't given myself credit to love me.  Was I really closed off to this concept, or had I just not allowed myself to feel and receive it fully?  As I worked through my thoughts, my feelings, my reaction and my junk, I realized how keen he was on this.  That I wasn't allowing myself to be loved and consequently this is why I abuse myself with work life balance issues.  This is why I put everyone else first and me last.  This is why I don't feel I matter because I don't make myself matter to me.  Let alone allowing myself to love me.  I could easily love others, but loving me, that was oh so very, very hard because of the lies I believed about being lovable.  Never being wanted.  Never being enough. 

At the end of the very last night, I asked Bri if I could get a picture with her and her husband Tony and she said sure.  As the guys did the entire time, they make things fun.  Tony shoved me on this side of him, the other side of him, behind him, in front of him, stuck his head between me and Bri and finally put me in the middle and the two of them had their arms around me.  He truly is a mess!  Another continual lesson in learning to have fun in life, something I don't do very well.  Life has been all about being serious and productive 100% of the time that I don't know how to legitimately have some fun.

The final moment of learning how much I need to accept love that is shown to me was when I got my picture taken with Tony & Gerald.  Gerald took the picture of Tony, Bri & I.  I told him when we were done I wanted my picture with him and Tony.  Fighting the internal negative thoughts, that I was going to live down my fear and do what I didn't feel I could do.  Tony & Gerald are very tall,and even though I was wearing black boots with a 4" heel, I still wasn't as tall as them, and only reached their shoulders.  Tony and Gerald looked at each other and winked, I barely caught the exchange.  They opened their arms and both came at me, made a circle around me, squeezing me closely and very tightly between them, and here I was stuck in the middle of the two of them like little kids fighting over who could hug someone first.  It was not something I saw coming and initially I felt myself freeze.  Again.  Bri was trying to raise my phone to get a picture of this exchange, but didn't catch it on camera.  We laughed and then they got into position with me in the middle for a real picture, both of them putting their arms around my shoulders pulling me close.  Part of me felt this lump in my throat.  I wanted to cry, not because I was sad, but because they had no clue what I was working through to do this and what lessons they were teaching me...let alone how accepting they were of me made it easier for me to face my fears.  These guys clearly conveyed to me their appreciation for my participation in the LiveBIG Conference and their love for me.  It was a small gesture that left a meaningful impact on my world.  Gerald thanked me for coming all the way from Texas to play with them, how grateful he was for me being authentic, being open in facing my fears and doing the hard work I did during the event, and that he couldn't wait to see the things God was going to do in my life.  He and Tony have no clue how I had to face my fears.  They never will, and that's okay...they don't need to.  I did the work and I agree...God is doing a BIG work in my life the last two years and he has big plans for me and this year is going to be huge in me learning to love me because I am committed to it.  Me learning to have work life balance.  Me learning to take care of me.  Me learning to rewrite My Story.  Me learning to create new belief systems.  ...I thanked him for everything, for being so amazing and sharing his gifts with us.

I then had to decide whether to post the picture on Facebook or leave it off.  Again, out of fear.  Fear that someone would read into it something it wasn't.  I didn't leave it out, I posted it with all the other pictures I had done with my new friends.

By facing my fear of getting my picture taken with these two guys, I allowed myself to receive a blessing and their expression of love.  I got to experience their love and appreciation for me coming.  If I hadn't opened up and faced my fears, I would still be stuck in them.  The only thing it would have left me with was regret.  

Tony commented on the picture I put on Facebook of me with my Coaches, Way to play big Misty!!  His comment truly does state what I did.  I went in and played a Level 10...and I have no regrets.

I don't consider my battles with this over, but I am truly going to look at my triggers and face my fears to create different results.  By doing that I will be rewriting My Story and creating new beliefs based on truth, not lies.  I will fight through my fears.  

I will never, ever, ever forget the lessons my Coaches, Tony & Gerald, have taught me.

I will not forget the impact my LiveBIG friends have made on my life.  

I challenge you to go and #LiveBIG!!!

my LiveBIG girlfriends

me and Brandee

me, Ski Teacher - Ron, & Melanie

Deonne & me

Jana & me

Jay, Misty & me

Sala & me

Who Are You?

I would like to encourage you to answer this for yourself. 

Who are you?  Who do you want to be?  Who are you not?  What attributes describe you?  What skills do you have?  What do others say about you?  How do you display this?

This is not selfish.  God created you in His image.  

He is perfect.  So are you.  

He is awesome.  So are you.

We are not all alike.  We are unique.  We each have our own abilities.  We each have qualities that are great.  That make you...YOU!

Who are you?

Quotes

People want to label you with everything you've done wrong, but you're already been labeled forgiven, redeemed, restored.
- Joel Osteen 

Quotes

God put this person in my life for me to impact, to promote, to encourage, to increase, to love, to bless, and to add value to.
- Dr. Walid Saade

YOU are the CREATOR

I Am Poem

I Am
by Misty W Gilbert

I am a Courageous, Generous, and Loving woman
Whose heart is authentic
Who lives life determined beyond measure
Whose smile holds beauty
With an intensity that can't be missed.

I am a Princess of the One True King
Whose generosity runs deep
Who is loved beyond measure
Whose presence gives me strength
With an abundant faith to run this race.

I am Beautiful
Whose true self can't be hid
Who shines through the ashes
Whose experiences brought darkness, challenges, and pain
With an ability to understand the hurting.

I am Powerful
Whose life experiences nobody would want
Who has been successful in spite of the hand dealt in life
Whose passion to find the truth has brought increased strength
With a sincere desire to connect with everyone my life touches.

I am rewriting My Story
Whose fears have been locked deep in my heart
Who is living down the promise to never share the true story
Whose belief system was faulty
With experiences that have shaped me to be who I am today.

I am going to LiveBIG
Whose fears will be faced
Who has a story to share
Whose life really matters
Who loves you for you!

I am a Courageous, Generous and Loving woman
Whose courage will inspire you
Who generously gives what she wished she had received
Whose journey is to make a difference
Who will lead with love and courage.

...I say, be courageous, be generous, be loving...LiveBIG!

what I learned from #my500words challenge

I started a challenge by Jeff Goins, a writer and speaker I heard at The Platform Conference in November 2013.  This challenge started January 1st, 2014 and we were encouraged to write 500 words every day for 31 days.  Emails didn't count, only journaling, book writing or blog posts.

I did this challenge for 31 days.  The full month of January.  Here is what I learned:

• When you make a commitment to yourself to do something and do it, you will see results.
• What initially seems like as something that is really hard, if done in bite size chunks, this allows you to do it in an easy way.
• When you make yourself accountable by posting your results and achievement daily on Twitter, Facebook & Blog, you keep yourself on track to achieve what you committed to do.
• When you start seeing results you get inspired to do more.
• When you miss a day and can't do what you want to do because life happens, you can't let it stop you to return and pick up where you left off.
• You will surprise yourself at times at what you can do by just staying focused.

We all know these things.  They are simple and impact our world if we let them.

What challenge can you do for the month of February?

Day 31 Writing Goals

Day 31: Blog writing = 1,403 words. Book writing = 0 words. 
#my500words challenge with @JeffGoins #2014Goals

my story from LiveBIG Conference

This week, I have shared with you on the blog my notes from the LiveBIG Conference I attended in Salt Lake City (technically Sandy).  I have also shared with you many of the nuggets and takeaways and my personal story at this event. I have more...and over the next few weeks, I want to visit a few things and elaborate on them, but in posts that are not so lengthy so you are able to digest them more and maybe we can even have a dialogue about it.

I have gotten a few questions that some of you that are my blogging followers and readers might have had too and so I am going to list them and do my best to answer them:

• Why are you sharing your experience of LiveBIG on the blog?

Not everyone is going to have the ability to attend a LiveBIG Event like I did, even though I can tell you that if you did, you would not regret it.  Some of you may want to but life is not going to let you because you have families, work, or other activities that prevent you from going and doing what you want.  I have my own limitations that at times make me unable to do all the things I want to do and each of us have to decide what that is and how to work around it.  Some of you may not even want to attend, but you are curious about it.  Regardless, we are not able to learn all the things in life we want to learn and if something I share could encourage you or help you on your journey, this is my hearts desire.  

I want to grow.  I want to be different.  I want to be better.  I want to change.  I want to believe a new belief system.  I want to encourage.  I want to support.  I want to make a difference.  I want my life to have meaning.  I want to LiveBIG.  This means that I will share my journey with you.  Even if it is hard.  Even if it includes ugly parts of My Story that make you cry, that bring pain, that are difficult, I will still share.

• Don't you think by being this vulnerable on your blog is risky?

Life has risk.  If you always live in the boundaries of small and safe you will never experience more.  Being vulnerable isn't comfortable.  Being open about all your junk, crap, or s***, whichever term you want to use (each speaker at LiveBIG had their own word and used it) takes courage.  Your junk might be easy for me...my junk might be easy for you, but we both have walked in different shoes and had different journeys that have lead us down different paths.  We have had our own life experiences that have created meaning, definitions and beliefs that we live in.  In order for us to not continue in those same patterns, we have to be willing to be open to change.  In order to change, we have to be vulnerable.  

I have always lived with courage and I will continue to do so.  I am more determined than ever to use the tools I was shown at the LiveBIG Conference and rewrite my story, make my life what I want it to be, and live even bigger for My God!  The more you learn to love you for you, the more you will be comfortable with being vulnerable.  The only reason you hold back from being vulnerable is because you are hiding behind your shadow and can't embrace it.  Not everyone can.  I understand that.  But I also believe you can, if you want to.  I believe you will gain the strength to face your lies and replace them with truth when you look them in the eyes.  I have been told for years I share too much on my blog.  That will not stop me.  I believe by sharing our journey with each other we create power, show forth love and inspire others to have courage.

• What has made you decide to open up and share your story?

Last year was a big year in my journey as I faced an encounter with a client that made me see I needed help.  Through this experience I faced things I had never expected to face with memories, feelings, emotions and trauma that I thought had been resolved and was at peace with.  My delving into my past, it made me discover and learn that I had a story and that my story mattered.  When I worked through professional counseling to work past my fears in talking about my story, I realized that it needed to be taken to another level and that is where my purpose to write a book sharing my story came from.  I realized that I only could share my story when asked and I kept the details in an overview type setting, not the emotional, intense level it was experienced at.  For fear that if you knew the truth of my life what you would think of me?  For fear that the pain, challenges and ugly experiences I faced would cause you pain in your life.  For fear that when you learned the truth of my life, you would shove me out just like everyone else has done in my life.  I have tried to leave my story behind and press on running the race as God has called us to do, focus on just being different, asking God to give me the courage to change the things I could and the wisdom to know what I couldn't change as the serenity prayer states. I have lived with the purpose to be loving and generous despite how I have been treated and how I continue to be treated.  I have seen too many people be angry and take the things they have faced and become bitter, hurtful people.  I have tried to live this in every way possible in my entire life, but in reality, deep in my heart was pain that was shoved down that never was allowed to heal for fear of not being accepted, not being loved, not believed, not mattering, not worthy.  

God has been bringing people and situations in my life to help me work through my junk and rewrite my story.  The level of growth in my life in one year has been absolutely amazing!!!  I anticipate the results of Professional Counseling, my Life Plan Coaching and this LiveBIG Conference to create some incredible results in me this year.  I know that the stories of others that I have read and personally know of give me courage to continue on my courageous journey and I am praying that by sharing mine, it does the same for you.  

I want you to live with courage and learn to love deeper, to be inspired to be more than you are now, to LiveBIG!

Quotes

Be who you are and not who the world wants you to be. Not who you think you should be. Be your beautiful collage of humanity. Be you loud, proud, and brave.

You are a star shining in this world. Do not get tangled up in comparing your light and brightness to that of the other stars. We all shine. We all have light that the world needs. We all add brightness and beauty.

Be who you are. For who you are is worthy, beautiful, significant. Who you are is vital. Who you are is a story we all need written.

You are loved. You are necessary. You are radiant.

Shine in your way. In your style. 

Shine bright and true in this life you've been given.

~ Dele Olanubi

Who Am I?

I am a Courageous, Generous, Loving Woman of God.

Day 30 Writing Goals

Day 30: Blog writing = 3,029 words. Book writing = 0 words. 
#my500words challenge with @JeffGoins #2014Goals

my LiveBIG experience on Day 3

I woke up, having slept better than the last two nights, but with a heart that was heavy.  I loaded up Pandora and listened to one of my favorite stations of christian music.  

The first song was one that I needed to hear first to begin my day.  It is called Brand New Day by KJ-52. Certain parts of the lyrics just stood out to me, big time.

"I'm startin over in a brand new way...Shout it out, its a brand new day...your life is all I chase, cause in you I;m gonna put all my faith...some nights I lose my faith...wooah, oh, oh...shout it out, its a brand new day...no I'll never, ever, ever be the same.  I think about how much I've changed, it was hard times but I'm not the same...you deserve all...we can have life.  I'm startin over in a brand new way...I'm not where I want to be but I'm not where I used to be.  You got me singing its a brand new day, shout it out...I'll never, ever, ever be the same, No I'll never, ever, ever be the same, cause I'll never, ever, ever be the same."

I wasn't sure what my feeling of heaviness was coming from, but as I left the hotel, I prayed.  Prayed for God to be apart of my last day of LiveBIG to help me through the thoughts and feelings taking over my soul.  I went by Starbucks and got me a Vanilla Chai Tea Latte.  I also got 10 $5 gift cards.  I wanted to give a note and a gift card to 10 people who impacted my time.  I wanted them to have a cup of coffee or tea on me and remember me at a later date, when we couldn't sit and chat over coffee, we could at least remember each other.  I figured I would go at lunch and get note cards since I had none with me and write each of them a note.

Day 3 started with Gerald giving us the 5 Components to a Power Hour (you can read my notes on this if you missed it).

We did the exercise again, "The Greatness I see In You..."

I did this with Rob, Tony and Christion.

Tony was an incredible person to do this exercise with.  His eyes were intense, the feeling bold, the connection strong and unwavering, no fear to reveal what he was thinking, no doubt in my mind that he has a true love for people, an amazing guy married to an awesome lady.  

I will never forget what he told me.  Tony made a huge impact on my life.  I wish I could have written down exactly what he said, maybe even have been able to have recorded it. I would have loved to have done this!!!  He was amazing.

"I see a brightly shining candle, one that has been hidden in complete darkness for a very long time but that has still shined boldly.  I see a fire desiring to shine brighter.  I see a strong woman, with a love for others that feels her eyes, a beautiful smile that is engaging.  I see a heart desiring love, love that has been hidden, desiring to be fueled by the fire."

Anthony did a great job at helping us see that comfort zones are really not that comfortable, they simply are familiar.  Think about this.  It's true!

He explained how much of what we know in our belief system is in place fully by age 8.  That to me is a scary thought.  I have heard this before, and it is unnerving to think about.  

Another thing Anthony taught me to think about was that our brain is trained to answer the questions we ask it.  So we need to ask intelligent questions, questions that aren't crappy because crappy questions get crappy answers.  Disbelief triggers will continue to be validated if we continue to feed them.  He had examples on this too.

Gerald spent some time talking about how every story in my life is divine to orchestrate the things God has for me in my life.

He then asked if anyone had something they wanted to share about what they were learning with their belief system.

Having been listening to the nudging of the Spirit of God, I knew I needed to share.  I didn't expect this to be easy, but I knew the last 2 days I had not been living a Level 10.  Sure, everyone else thought I was courageous, everyone else thought I was amazing, but I knew I could do more, be more and live more.  I knew I had been holding back, not wanting this conference to be all about me, I had kept my influence small.  I hadn't shared all I could.  I hadn't gone to the deep end.  I stayed in my comfort zones that weren't so comfortable even then.  

I raised my hand.  Gerald accepted my application to share and asked me to stand.

I turned my back to Gerald who was up front and faced the crowd.  I let them know that it was Day 3 and though I had shared some the last 2 days, I felt I needed to share more today. I let them know that it would be another mascara alert.  Anotherwards, there would be tears and my face would be streaked.

I shared that the first day I came in utterly exhausted and emotionally drained from a 21 hour trip and 3 hours of sleep.  I shared that this was not how I wanted to be in my game, ready to learn, and felt frustrated.  I had expected this event to be a life changer for me in the few months that I had followed Gerald on Facebook.  I shared how that when Gerald asked me questions, I had fear what the audience and people were thinking about me and that I had a hard time forgetting about them and just getting into the moment.  I shared that I felt I wouldn't answer his questions the right way.  I shared how I wanted to move forward through my junk and be different.  I shared a key element in this was when Gerald asked me to give the gift my Mom gave me back to her since it was not serving me.  I explained how this was a different form of Letting GO than I had done before and how it truly was an incredible aspect to think about.  I shared how there was so much more to my story than I had shared and could share even now due to time constraints, but that I needed to share more. I shared how when Tony started to probe into my world that I brushed him off with the fact that we had talked about things the night before and he knew.  I said the real reason was because I couldn't talk about it.  I shared that I left the 2nd Day feeling like I was holding back and that I wasn't giving my all.  I shared that I faced 20 years of horrible abuse, mental, physical, emotional and spiritual abuse from my parents, particularly my Mom. I shared that I was raped at age 17 and that I know this has impacted the reason I am single and don't have a man in my life.  I shared that my parents didn't believe me and that they no longer considered me the first born of the family.  I shared a few things I can't write here.  I shared that I felt that if I couldn't share with a room full of strangers, how in the world would I ever be able to finish my book that I was in the middle of writing to share My Story?  I shared that though I know in my head that I am good enough, I continue to struggle in my heart to feel it. I shared that the exercise of "The Greatness I see in You..." was tough for me, not because I have an issue looking people in the eye, I can do this well, I am not afraid of the truth, but to let you look deep into my soul?  This was hard.  To be able to look each of them in the eyes and see the compassion, the love, the care, the truth they saw in me was absolutely amazing!!!  I stated that what my belief system was trying to do each time someone shared their thoughts with me, to tear it down and make My Story real.  I shared how this was truly something I needed and I appreciated them beyond what I could ever say.  I shared that one of the biggest and greatest tools I learned was to look at the fruits and results I was getting in my life and trace them back to look at my triggers, to understand my triggers, to address the lies, to look at the things I had given definition to, the things I had created a meaning for, and think about the experiences.  I explained that I do this with my clients in business but had never thought about doing the reverse for my own personal life.  I stated LiveBIG was making a huge impact on my life and I was in the middle of rewriting My Story.

Everyone was clapping.  There were people crying.  There were people hugging me.  There were people loving me in spite of my pain.

Gerald asked everyone how they felt learning more of my story, did they feel more connected to me?  If so, to raise their hand.  Every hand went up.  He made me look around at all the hands.  He asked how many people felt more love for me knowing what I had faced in my life.  Every hand was still up.  He asked me to remember that.  He asked how many people had more compassion for me and love knowing more of what I have faced in my life.  Every hand went back up.  He then listed characteristics that described me that showed by the mere fact that I was willing to face my demons, address the lies, stand up in front of everyone, share my story along with what I was learning and provide more details, and be authentic how courageous, loving, beautiful, strong and amazing I truly was. 

I was sitting by Denise, she was hugging me as I sobbed.  Gerald told me to lean into her embrace and accept it.  Denise whispered in my ear to write down all the things Gerald said about me.  

She then took my notebook and wrote in it:

I am shifting NOW!  I am saying YES TO ME and to receiving LOVE! 

Later in the morning she wrote:

EVERYONE in our LiveBIG Team has been impacted for good by your contribution and will remember YOU, MISTY!! You're so beautiful and strong!

I wrote back:

Thank You Denise for being apart of my journey and sharing in my life!  I Love You...

and she wrote back:

I LOVE YOU, MISTY! :)

We broke for lunch and as I was getting up to head out, Deonne grabbed me and said, I knew there was a reason I loved you and connected with you.  She said she was raped at age 17 too.  Awwwhhhhhhh, now her note to me the day before meant even more. It had even more meaning.  Wow!!!

I couldn't even make it out of the conference room without 10 people asking me if I had lunch plans.  You think I am joking?  I am not.  By opening myself up and being more than vulnerable, I had more people want to connect with me, not less.  I had more people who wanted to know more of my story, not less.  I did my best to include them all and we went to Sweet Tomatoes again, all of us.  Deonne was behind me in line and I surprised her and treated her to lunch.  Made her eyes fill up with tears.  So fun!!!

We headed back to the conference and resumed.

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy to hold back.  This is so true.  Even in my own LiveBIG experience.  Until I was committed to share all, I held back.

Tony spent a lot of time discussing having a Well Being and what that looks like and why we struggle.  He made it very clear that you either choose to effectively reduce your stress or continue your addiction.  He discussed Adrenal Fatigue.  :(  Yes, a sore subject because of how it relates to my life.

We had to do an exercise in which we wrote our fear on an arrow.  I can't explain the exercise to you because we have been forbidden to do so as they don't want this ruined for others who would do the conference and know what to expect...but let me just tell you, that it was incredible.  As we sat in our circle of 8 people, one of the gals was having a hard time with signing the waiver.  She asked me how I could do this.  I said, we have spent a good 2 and a half days trusting what Gerald as he has shared how God has worked in his life, gave us tools for what God is doing in our lives, listening to his thoughts and input, letting him work with us to move past our beliefs and lies to rewrite our stories...I wasn't going to back out now.  I trusted him.  She couldn't do it and declined the waiver.  I watched some of the people on my team do this.  It was now my turn.  I was not able to.  I tried, for all I was worth, but couldn't.  I took a deep breath, tried harder.  I still couldn't do it.  I was determined to not let this win over me and tried a third time.  This time, nearly in tears.  I tried two more times.  I was now frustrated, standing there with extreme hesitation.  The very fear of not being good enough was in my face, here my team could do this, but I couldn't?  Tony came up behind me, put his arm across my shoulders, spoke loving, kind, gentle reaffirming remarks into my ear and encouraged me to move through it quickly.  I did it.  Why was it so hard?  I wasn't moving fast enough...but without the support of someone who had done it before, I thought I was giving it my all and it kept me from being able to achieve the results I wanted.  Amazing!

As the evening was winding down to a close, we had another round of "The Greatness I see In You...".  We did this with 5 or 6 different people, though there was a slight twist to it on a few of the connections we did. 

I am not sure I remember each person I did this with but I know I did with Chad, Nathanial, Sala, and Anthony...there were one or two others, but I can't right now remember their names.  {I will edit the blog post later if I remember them.}

The second to the last person, we didn't say anything, but just looked deep into their eyes, letting our eyes share what we were feeling.  Amazing.  I was with a girl named Sala.  She is a vibrant young lady full of life, who believed she was not beautiful.  Her eyes filled with tears and then they smiled and glowed.  Her love and friendship clearly spilling over.  I got my picture taken with her later that night and when I did so she asked me if she could share what she had been thinking. I said of course, she said you don't mind?  I said no.  And she did.  She made me cry.

The last person I was with was Anthony.  This round we were to say things about ourselves that in reality also described the other person because we were told, many times the person we are attracted to has a heart just like ours.  This to me was an amazing experience because Anthony clearly tried to make someones day, clearly tried to say words of encouragement, clearly connected with people...all the things that represent me and how I am at my core heart.

We then all gathered in one big circle.  We put our arms around each other and were instructed to look around the room at each person, our LiveBIG Team.  Gerald was in the center of the circle and shared some last few thoughts with us, encouraging us to stay connected and accountable to each other.  Tears were streaming down my face while I smiled looking at my LiveBIG Friends.  To see these people who had been complete strangers 3 days before now be so connected with my life was truly amazing.  He asked us who wanted to LiveBIG, I shouted out a wooohoooooo in my own way as I had done throughout the event, but with much more volume than I had previously.  Denise was near me and she said you sure have a big voice for a little body.  I knew I was going to take LiveBIG with me and I wanted to share that with my LiveBIG Tribe.  Gerald locked eyes with me at one point as he was circling around and sharing last minute nuggets with us, and said You Are Good Enough.   You are Beautiful.  You are Loved.  You are Amazing.  This was his final message to me to burn deep into my heart and mind to rewrite my internal belief system.  

Telling my LiveBIG Friends & Tribe bye was really hard.  I didn't get as many pictures of my time as I wish I had...(you should take pictures before the last day if you want to capture the event and not be wearing the same outfit with everyone) but the memories will forever be written on my heart.  The participation with my buddy, Brandee, the other LiveBIG Tribe, and my Coaches!!!  

Day 3 of LiveBIG was an incredible experience!!!  I encourage you to #LiveBIG...

Day 29 Writing Goals

Day 29: Blog writing = 3,371 words. Book writing = 0 words. 
#my500words challenge with @JeffGoins #2014Goals

my LiveBIG experience on Day 2

Day 2 of the LiveBIG Conference had a lot of stuff to think about.  I didn't get much sleep that night.  Woke up at 3am, my mind churning.  I did some blogging.  I prayed.  I did some more praying.  I did some reflecting.  I went through some memories.  I cried.

I finally got up and wrote out a prayer, texted it to my buddy and Gerald, and posted it on Facebook.  I had 3 of my close friends text me prayers back.


Father,  Thank You so much for Misty and for the friend she is to me and so many others.  Give her the strength and wisdom to endure this getaway and to find peace, confidence, and most of all to see more of You and Your Love.  Convict Misty's heart, give her direction daily of where You would have her go, not go, do and not do.  Remove any negative spirits of inadequacy, unworthiness, condemnation that others have placed on her, I am confident Lord, that most of us try too hard and you're asking us to rest in you...show us...lead us to that rest.  In light of the fact that Misty will not have the support of her adrenal meds please allow her health to hold up during this time so that she may glean in for and insight from this conference from you as she moves forward in her life drawing near to you and living in complete freedom.  Thank You again for such an amazing friend, please take care of her as I KNOW you will. Amen.



Papa, You're holding Misty today as you were yesterday, you know exactly what she's feeling and thinking.  I pray that you'll give her Your strength as she takes on the day, and I thank you for loving her enough to let hard things happen, to push and grow her.  I pray she'll feel Your arms around her this day as you stretch her heart and soul.  Always in Your Name.



Lord I lift Misty Gilbert and lay her at the foot of the cross. That fully surrendered to You, she can live the life you designed Her! Remind her Lord, about your kingdom that is love, Joy, peace, and well-being. In your sons name Amen!


Friends that will take the time to encourage you and pray for you are amazing!!!  They truly make me feel close to them quickly.

When I got to the conference I checked in on my buddy and learned she was in pain.  I spent some time trying to encourage her and listen.  Was the pain stemmed from the emotional work we did yesterday?  Maybe.  Was the pain from sleeping in a bed that wasn't her regular bed?  Maybe.  Was the pain due to a condition she had that had just flared up?  Maybe.  It didn't matter, she needed my love and support.

When the doors opened for the Day 2 Session, the team gave each of us a hug.  I told Anthony, so good to see you...and he whispered in my ear, you too lovely. I am better now that you are here!

Wow!!!  Anthony knew how to communicate a message straight to your soul.  He knew how to be loving.  Talk about melting your heart.  What a sweetie!!!  You couldn't help but connect with Anthony.  He reminded me of my Granpa Whiskers, my Dads Dad, who passed away in 1991.  Wish I had gotten my picture with him!

I took my seat, sitting on the same row as yesterday, 2nd row, right hand side.

Yesterday, if we spoke up, we said "My name is..." and where we were from (city & state).  Today, if we spoke up we said "My name is...", and the LiveBIG Tribe asked "Who Are You?"  And we repeated our affirmation of who we were that we created last night.  So I would have said, "My Name is Misty, I am a Courageous, Generous, Loving Woman."  They then said, "Yes You Are."  We were to reply, "Yes, Thank You, I know."

The first few times of doing this, it was truly uncomfortable.  I felt like I was bragging.  The more you did it, the more it felt like it was apart of you.  The more you did it, the more you believed it.  All these exercises truly were ways for them to teach us in a hands on skillful way to create and rewrite our own story.

Amazing!

Not too long into the morning session, we did the same exercise we did the day before with someone saying "The Greatness I see in You is...".  

I did this with Kristine, Tanner and Jeremy.

You would have thought I was more prepared for it this time after having done this yesterday, but I flat out wasn't.  This time I was even more hung up then the day before on trying to let what they said sink in.  This time I was more conscious of trying to fight my internal belief system about myself, trying to figure out what was truth vs lies, trying to understand how the words they were telling me could represent me.  

Since we believe 80% of what we tell ourselves and only 20% of what someone else tells us, this lesson was hard, very hard for me.  I found myself trying to discredit the things people were saying about me. I found myself not believing what they said was true and they were only saying and doing it because they had to participate in this exercise.  

But I also found myself creating a connection, a bond, and planting new seeds to create a new belief system.  I found myself being open to listening to what someone else saw in me.  I found myself realizing that they had the truth, I am the one that had lies.

I found that when I got lost at looking into their eyes and seeing them it gave me a feeling of love for them.  It brought me closer to wanting to know more about their life and to speak life into them.

The lesson from all this is that you will forget who you are.  Repeating it over and over, never with the same person, you are finding a way to remind yourself and emphasize the truth.  The thing to remember is that we should not get frustrated with ourselves when we forget.  The goal is to create ways to reprogram yourself so that you remember.  

Wow.  An impressive way to rewrite your story!  Truly meaningful.

Marci then took us to the next part which was where we all were sitting in our thinking at this point:  How do I move through this junk?  

She made it clear that none of us can be forced to move through our junk.  We have to choose to.  She stressed that everything exists out of fear or love...and shared examples of what she meant by that.

She asked an incredible question.  

"What if you learn to love everything you were taught to fear?"  

This is very powerful if you think about it.  Whatever you think or focus on you will experience.  The gift of feedback helps you figure out what is working or not working to create improvement.  You will either stop yourself or give into the emotion.  The goal is to catch yourself and move through it once you analyze what and why.  These are the tools you need to rewrite your story.

She spent a lot of time talking about how everything shows up in your inner self worth.  This was an amazing nugget to me.  We spend a lifetime trying to create a book cover but don't deal with addressing the internal material in the book.  We think its closed and won't be discovered or uncovered.  We think that the outer picture is more important than the inner picture.

We are wrong.

You can't hide when you look in the mirror and look yourself in the eyes.  And believe me, you can't hide when you look these other people in the eyes.  They see you, your heart and soul our conveyed, a message is being delivered to the outside world about the true you.  Others can see you more clearly than you see yourself.  Others can pinpoint your character because it shows, it can't be hid.

"You will never lose love if you love yourself!"

• I love Misty!
• I love and approve of myself just as I am now!
• I am perfect, whole, and complete just as I am now!

Tony then spent time talking about why we sabotage ourselves.  I never would have dreamed that this was something I did until he walked through some examples.  He had loads of examples.  He discussed the 4 patterns we use in this process and how if these patterns remain unexamined, they will run us, and how we need to examine without shame.

This thought struck me.  How can you do this?  I mean, when someone is trying everything in their power to put shame and guilt on you, how do you do this?

So when he asked if there were questions, I asked mine.  "You told us to examine without shame.  How do you examine without shame?"

They brought me the mic, just like yesterday and he asked me to stand.  

I knew what was coming now.   Yet, I also knew I was committed to living a level 10 and engaging in this process.  Awwwhhhhhhh, here it goes...

Tony stated, "By your question, it is obvious that you feel shame."  I nodded.  He said, "Is it true?"  I said, "That I feel this way?  Yes."  He said "No, that you should feel that way?"  I said, "No."  I know this theoretically in my brain, but in my heart, I question.  He dug deeper.  He asked more questions to find out why I felt this way.  I answered some of his questions providing more details of the childhood experiences I had, the things that hold me back, the things that have created my negative internal belief system; stating that even if I made straight A's, I never made my parents happy, it was never enough; even if I give all to my clients, above and beyond what is in my contract, they want more, it is never enough and I consequently feel like I am not good enough; even if I do everything is expected of me, it is never enough; even if I take care of myself and make enough money to support me, my Mom feels I am to independent and that I make too much money and I am not living as God wants me to live because I am not married; I feel if I take care of me I am being selfish; etc...one of the questions when he pressed further to get me to open up more and I passed it off with, "it relates to what I told you last night when we were talking."  He didn't probe more.  He left it.

I was grateful.  I couldn't go into that in front of all these people.

He then asked me to close my eyes.  He asked me to move forward and imagine myself without a feeling of shame.  He asked me to feel the opposite of what those feelings were creating in me.  He asked me what that looked like.  He asked me how it made me feel.  He saw my demeanor change and said, whatever you thought brought a smile to your face, that is what I am referring to.  He said, "You thought about sex didn't you?"  I believe Tony said it, not just because that is one of his favorite things and that he believes it is a great tool to be used in our lives that we don't give it enough credit (and yes, without you being there and hearing the reason this was part of the topic at the conference and to just hear me recount this through this context you probably aren't going to understand, and it is going to seem truly inappropriate) but I believe he also did it to lighten the moment.  However, this question sent my wall back up, immediately like a red alert.  Because the topic related to the very thing I didn't want to talk about...an incident that happened when I was 17.  If Tony knew what it made me do and feel, I don't believe he would have.  I felt myself stiffen.  I felt myself build a barrier and revert back to a belief and a feeling of more shame.  I caught myself and told myself to listen to Tony and try to glean what I could from what he was saying.  This is another one of those things that is the junk in my life that has created me to have my own internal belief system.  A belief system full of lies.

"Shame is I Am Bad.  I Am Not Worthy.  Change your story.  Write new stuff.  Change the focus.  Look at the truth.  Rewrite your story.  Create statements that change your automatic thoughts.  Put them on your mirror.  Put them on your review mirror.  Put them on your dashboard.  Rewrite them in your mind.  Refocus."

He asked me what those would be.  I listed:

• I am Courageous!
• I am Good Enough!
• I am Loved!
• I Matter!
• I am Worthy!
• I am Successful!

He said, did you say, "I am Beautiful?"  I said, "No, I didn't."  He went on talking and said again, "I am beautiful was one of your statements, right?"  I said "No, but if you want to use it for your example, that's fine."  He talked more and then said, "You are Beautiful."  Say it.  I struggled to say it.  It was at that moment I realized just how keen he was into the soul and belief system I had.  He then said, "If I am Beautiful wasn't one of your statements, it should be.  You are."

I am not stupid and you don't have to force a thought on me for me to get it. I heard Tony and the message he was getting to me.  At this point, I was crying.  

Again.

While I was standing up doing this exercise, Deonne, an attendee sitting two seat over, had grabbed my notebook/journal and wrote me a note sharing a resource for dealing with shame.  I did not see her do this, I only saw a note written to me when I sat back down.  {This will mean more later when I share stuff on Day 3.}

Gerald took over now and told us that your mind is fighting to make your story true.

Wow.  Didn't I just do this in the example with Tony?

The next several exercises were effective in me getting to see things about myself.  We were told to write until we were told to stop, though we were told that this might not be an exhaustive list, it would get us started and to continue the exercise later.  And to repeat it as often as necessary to figure this junk out.


Exercise:  What top 2 or 3 things you want?

1. I want to achieve work life balance while I still have a passion to do what I love in the midst of my love to work.
2. I want to believe I am Good Enough, Beautiful, Loved, Cherrished, Create a New Story, etc.
3. I want to be an encourager, generous, and loving to a greater degree and deeper level.

Exercise:  What are the reasons I can't have this?

• I don't believe I deserve work life balance.
• I don't believe I can be successful because of being told I would never be.
• I always received abuse and feel I must abuse myself because I am not worthy.
• I don't believe I am worthy of love.
• I don't want to be my Mom.
• I have fear that I can't ever be good enough.
• I don't believe a man will love me.
• I don't believe my story matters.
• I don't believe anyone will believe my story because my parents didn't.
• I don't believe I am understood.
• I don't want to give up.
• I don't know how to achieve work life balance.
• I believe being a workaholic is self sacrifice.

Exercise:  What is the truth?

• I am successful.
• I am loved.
• I am good enough.
• I am courageous.  Beautiful.  Amazing.
• I am not like my Mom.
• I am able to create work life balance.
• I am determined to be different.
• I know My Story matters.
• I will resolve my childhood abuse issues.
• I will live big.  Live my dreams.
• I will be more of a dreamer.
• I will create time for me.
• I will love myself.
• I will believe the truth.
• I will rewrite My Story.

"Challenge every thought and ask, is that true?  Really true?"

Somewhere in the midst of all this, it was a lunch break.  I went to lunch with a lady named Tonya (she was on crutches due to an injury) and her daughter Brittney, who wanted to talk to me more.  They had brought their lunch to the conference and I suggested I go get food and I come back and meet them in the lobby.  They didn't want to do this, they wanted to go with me.  So the rode with me and we went to Sweet Tomatoes.  The situation with Tonya reminded me of something my Mom would do, and it was plain awkward because we (or I) carried in their rolling ice chest tote of food.  Brittney didn't want to eat what her Mom had brought and complained about having to do so.  I told her I was treating her to lunch and to not worry about it.  Tonya wanted to hear more of my story and this is why we had made plans to meet up for lunch.  We had a good time sharing and relating thoughts with each other.  We headed back to the conference before we would be late.  

Tony spent time talking about self acceptance.

Marci had us do some upper body exercises with bands.  She kicked our butt.

In anything in life, if you want to be good at it, you have to study the skills.  In our society we spend time studying a skill for our career, but we don't take the time to do this in other things, especially the things relating to our hearts and minds.  Why do we not truly study the skills of relationships and communication?  We need to.

Throughout the day, I had various people make comments to me about how courageous they felt I was to share.  They asked to know more about My Story.  They shared thoughts.  They encouraged me.  They were loving.  They were kind.  They were friendly.  It was amazing!!!  

These are the people who I became close friends with.  These are the people who impacted my world.  These are the people who taught me lessons.  These are the people who are helping me to change my belief system.  These are the people who are helping me to rewrite my story.

At our 90 minute dinner break, I went with my buddy and 3 other lady friends (Melanie, Michelle and Bethany) and Misty & Jay to a Sushi & Hibachi place.  It was a great time of being able to share in each others lives and learn more from each other.  We had to rush to eat as the restaurant took their time at getting our food prepared.  The sushi was absolutely delicious!!!  

In a conversation with Kent, one of the attendees that evening before I left, he told me:  

I want to share something with you.  You are chosen!  You are beautiful.  Believe it.

I listened.  I heard him.  Do I feel chosen?  Beautiful?  Do I believe it?  No.  But I am a courageous, generous, loving woman who is learning to rewrite her story!

Day 2 of LiveBIG was an incredible experience!!!  I encourage you to #LiveBIG...